#68

yes, I was scared to ride again.

After 3 months off my bike, today I finally went back to the trails.

Mid april, I had one of the nastiest bike crashes ever, this is what happened:

Was riding, good speed, on a downhill section of a new trail we recently built near my home. It was a windy day and many bushes and plants were moving into the trail.

As I speeded on the downhill, a plant tangled up in my right hand, pulled it making the handlebar turn suddenly. I endoed really fast... the other side of the handlebar hit the dirt and then I fell slammed into the other side, almost stabbing me in the abdomen.

I recieved a very hard blow that lacerated the abdominal aorta (an extension of the descending aorta) thus forming a gigantic ball of blood between the skin and fat. I was like a softball in my belly.

After 45 days of slow recovery, I was able to start jogging a litlle.

Today, I was able to ride again. Scared, but determined to get my biker life again. After 5 minutes in the trails, I forgot all about my accident, felt awesome!

I really missed that unique feeling...

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#67

After a month of waiting, my bike just made it back from Cannondale. The Lefty fork locked itself after a muddy ride so the guys at the local Cannondale shop sent it for a warranty fix. Apparently the fork had some broken seals or something... not really sure what they fixed, all I know it´s working pretty fine.

Sooo today, we decided to ride the Olimpic Trail in Salinas, PR.



















Gained some weight during xmas and during the bike-less month, so gonna be hitting the trails pretty hard these upcoming weeks!

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#66

NO BIKE FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

That's right, got some days off work for the holidays and no bike to ride on. Seems that the lefty fork on my 4 month old 2007 Cannondale Rush, suddenly locked itself. Yes, locked. Won't move at all. Took it the the shop to get it checked and now they have to send it off to Cannondale and have them verify the damage and fix it up under the warranty.

It seems that it took water in during a recent bike wash and that made the system fail.

I had been considering selling the bike 2 months after I bought it. Not because the bike isn't good enough, it's just that it really didn't feel as good as I hoped it would. Been thinking of 4 pt. linkage rather than single pivot. Let's see what happens...

I NEED A BIKE FOR THIS WEEKEND!!!!

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#65

Today I woke up needing a ride.

It´s been 8 weeks since my last ride. Been pretty sick and today I felt good and ready to go.

Since most of the friends and riders were hitting long and hard trails, I had to stay behind and give my lungs an easy ride, so off to the road on my mtbike.

Gave it a good 50 minutes at a good pace, then hit the local park for some jumping and playing around.

Feels good to be back on that saddle... hope to get some more exercise and cardio this week and be ready for some DH classes next weekend!

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#64

That's how I'll be for the next couple of weeks, Missing in Action! Been pretty sick with bronchial asthma lately and the doctors don't want me riding

I recently got a new to me, but used DH-FR bike. I've been shopping for some protective gear and other stuff and the mail man delivered yesterday... AND I CAN'T RIDE! It sucks being sick.

I'm getting a lung CTscan next tuesday, just hoping its all fine and my Dr. lets me ride again... wish me luck!!!!

This is what the mail man brought me:

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#63

Early saturday morning we got back to work and construct the Venus trails. We finally finished a single track loop which starts and finishes at the main trail. It has lots of hills and its looks pretty technical. After about 3 hours of hard work, I decided to take my new (too me) but used freeride/DH bike. Took it down the new DH section which we made into a steep slalom, gave it some speed and jumped some rooty sections, the bike feels plush and awesome. It's been many years since I use flat or platform pedals! So right at the end of the hill, PAM!!! I hit my right shin with the pedal It felt horrible and let some blood out. After a while of screaming, took the bike out again from the highest part of the hill through a jeep trail all the way down to the lowest part, it has rocky sections and loose dirt. Picked up some speed all the way down to the main road and out of the woods. I might be removing the front der. and putting a chain guide on the coming days. Just hoping that my protective gear and helmet gets here this week to hit the mountains soon!!


















Next weekend will work on a new singletrack which will reach the Botanical Gardens and back to the main trail, its planned to have long downhills and lots of wooden ramps. Its estimated to have around 4.5 miles of distance when finished. We also made contact with the dirt jumpers from Monagas to start making some new ramps near the trails.

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#62

A couple of months ago, I got some Down Hill fever and wanted to give it a try. I had recently bought a new bike so the money pot was a bit affected. Proceeded to post a message in a local forum about my search of a cheap DH bike to learn and give DH a try. After a long wait, a couple of riding friends wrote emails of bikes for sale. What I really wanted was to sell my hardtail (Giant XTC) and get some cash but another opportunity emerged, a guy from Vega Alta called being interested in changing bikes and that he had a good, 2004 Giant AC1 for that exchange, depending in the conditions of my hardtail. So after some talk and old riding stories, I found out the guy had lots of racing experience and that he had been part of the best bike teams of Puerto Rico.

Anyway, to stop the BS, the exchange was finally made, a very good one, and this is what I got home with late last night...








Just hope to start riding soon. The geometry of that bike feels weird. Gave it a try last night jumping around, but defently absorbs big hits! So DD, when are we riding, tell me the "begginer" DH trails to hit them!

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#61

Today I began what I intend to be my mtbike ¨training¨... It really is exercising on my bike (on week days), trail riding on weekends and on other days, weight lifting, jogging and some other cardio with a jump rope. I never thought that a jump rope would get my heart pumping so hard!!! Its awesome. No wonder box fighters train with these!!

Anyway, I took my trainer out of the closet. It has been hiding there for two or more years, in that darkness, filling up with dust and cobwebs... today it went back to what it was made for... Also cleaned up my hardtail. Its been laying around bored since I bought the new Rush.... installed a rear thin and slick tire and put it in the living room.

I used to consider using my trainer one of the most BORING exercises in the world. This time its different. I have a new 42¨ plasma newly installed , ready to make some noise and entertain my mind while sweating my head off and spinning my legs to the limit. Now I guess there´s no excuse to my boredom nor any excuse to be a couch potato. From now on, I´ll watch all my movies atop my favorite saddle, my bike!!!

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#60

At last! Today I bought a new set of Light & Motion Solo Logic Mv. The season change is making the day light shorter so now was the best time to get the new set. Just hoping that the rains stop for a while to be able to ride and let the trails dry up a bit.

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#59

On the last couple of months I've been working with my biker friend JR on the construction of a new trail on a nearby mountain.

There were some singletracks previously made by motorcyles and their riding kept the old trails clean but after some serious accidents, the Government closed up all access to them. That made the vegetation grow again and most of the trail is completely lost with high brush vegetation, specially in the areas with direct sun light.

Now, after almost a month, we have made a great downhill/singletrack, opened up some brush areas and created around 1 mile of new single track. It is LOTS of work, but we are confident to have the trails ready before the xmas vacations.

Today we did some brush cutting after work and on saturday will be working from early morning with a group of volunteers/bikers who will help us on the singletrack and GPS markings.

Also found out today that a local hardware store is gonna give us wood and materials to construct more ramps among other wooden trails (Whistler style).

Lets see what happens! Next time will post some pics so u can have an idea how the trail is looking.

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